Verification model
Every manufacturer profile field carries one of four verification statuses. Statuses describe how well supported a value is — not how good a supplier is. A single profile can hold fields at different levels, and each is labelled where it appears.
Verified
Supported by a reliable, independently checkable source — or confirmed through our own on-site inspection or document review. This is the strongest level we assign, and it is reserved for fields we can actually stand behind.
Supplier Reported
The value was provided by the supplier themselves — by email, form, datasheet or their own website. It is published for context and traceability and is always labelled as self-reported. We do not present it as an established fact.
Third-Party Verified
Supported by independent third-party evidence — for example an accredited laboratory test report or a certification body — rather than by the supplier’s or our own statement alone.
Unverified
Not yet checked against any source. Treated as unconfirmed and never relied upon as a fact until the field moves to a stronger status.
What each status means in practice
The table below is the reference for how a status is established and how the field is then presented.
| Status | What it means | How it is established | How we present it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verified | A reliable source, or on-site / document verification by us, supports the field. | Independent source, or our own on-site inspection or document review. | Stated as a supported fact, with the source noted. |
| Supplier Reported | The value was provided by the supplier about themselves. | Supplier statement only (email, form, datasheet, website). | Labelled as self-reported. Never stated as a verified fact. |
| Third-Party Verified | Independent third-party testing or certification supports the field. | Accredited lab report or certification body evidence. | Stated as third-party supported, with the evidence type noted. |
| Unverified | The field has not yet been checked against any source. | No verification performed yet. | Shown as unconfirmed and not relied upon. |
Why “Supplier Reported” is not a verified fact
Self-reported data is useful: it tells a buyer what a supplier claims, and which claims are worth testing. It is also the easiest thing in cross-border sourcing to get wrong, because a plausible-looking number — a monthly tonnage, a certification code, an export-market list — reads like a fact the moment it is published without a label.
We separate the two deliberately:
- A claim is not evidence. A supplier saying they produce a given volume is a statement about themselves. It only becomes “Verified” when a reliable source or our own inspection supports it, and only becomes “Third-Party Verified” when independent testing or certification does.
- The label travels with the data. Wherever a self-reported value is shown, the “Supplier Reported” label is shown with it. It is never silently upgraded by proximity to verified fields.
- Buyers can weight it themselves. A labelled claim lets a buyer decide how much to rely on it, and ask for evidence before committing — which is the point of the model.
If we cannot say where a value came from, we do not publish it as fact. “Supplier Reported” is a label, not a shortcut around verification.
Unverified
“Unverified” is a working state, not a verdict. It means the field exists as a candidate data point but has not been checked. It is never presented as confirmed, and it is the first field a qualification pass will attempt to resolve.